Fukushima nuclear plant clean-up 'on track'

The company in charge of the embattled Fukushima nuclear plant has declared that it is on track to end the crisis, the crippled reactors are stable and cool and radiation levels at the facility are falling.

A roof has been put on one of the damaged reactor buildings as a countermeasure against rainwater and typhoonsPhoto: EPA

By Julian Ryall in Tokyo

1:10PM BST 20 Jul 2011

Officials at Tokyo Electric Power Co said that emergency crews operating at the plant, which was devastated by Japan's March 11 earthquake and tsunami, have connected the critical water decontamination and recycling systems and that cold shutdown of the plant should be achieved on schedule by January.

"Contaminated water had accumulated in the reactor buildings and turbine buildings, but we now have a system in place that purifies the water so we can push it back into the reactors to cool them," said Yoshikazu Nagai, a spokesman for the company.

"The system is working well and the temperature at the bottom of the reactor chambers is between 110C (230F) and 150C (302F)," he said.

The aim is to bring the temperature of water in the reactor below 212F (100C), which halts the release of radioactive steam.

Monitors at the plant indicate that radioactive emissions – which contaminate groundwater, seawater and the air – are gradually falling, while work has begun on the construction of a huge shroud over the No. 1 reactor building that is designed to further reduce radioactive releases. Conditions for the emergency teams at the plant have also been improved, with the construction of a dormitory and improved cooking facilities, Tepco said.

Related Articles

The company recognises that the clean-up process at the plant and over hundreds of square miles of now-abandoned neighbouring farmland, mountains and towns will take many years.

The long-term goal is to start removing the spent nuclear fuel from the reactors three years after achieving cold shutdown.

The government has indicated that tens of thousands of people evacuated from the 18-mile exclusion zone around the plant may be able to return to their homes within the next few months if radiation levels continue to fall.